This is a discussion on How much did you lose before you started to gain? within the online poker forums, in the General Poker section; Well I have been up and down since I started playing. I played a few small 5$ SnG tournies and would place usually 2nd or

Well I have been up and down since I started playing. I played a few small 5$ SnG tournies and would place usually 2nd or 4th right outside the money. I then tried some cash games which I liked more. I have made a few small deposits with some extra change over the past two-three months valued at $200. I ended up losing most of it however I am having fun learning the game and already have seen my game improve. I find myself playing situations better than I would have when I started. I lost a good chunk of my bankroll on tilt which I need to learn to control after losing a huge hand. Just wondering how much some of you lost before you guys gained it all back.

looking forward to playing you all in the FT freeroll tomorrow.

Similar Threads for: How much did you lose before you started to gain?

Maybe you should consider playing for lower stacks. I started in January playing $.25/.50. I lost $27.00 before making a come back. I tried play $.50/1.00 at Absolute poker. That didn't work out to well. I am down about $40.00. I seem to get an extra helping of bad beats there.

#3

March 28th, 2007, 1:02 AM

dj11 [23,194]

Online Poker at: WPN

Game: Horse.

I am not alone here in that I haven't lost a cent yet.

My original real money was all from freeroll winnings. I got them out before the ban, and they are FullTillt now. That is down from my original deposit even with the bonus I am still clearing.

But due to what I think I have learned here mainly, I think it perhaps has bottomed out.

Just you try and uncross these fingers!

#4

March 28th, 2007, 1:07 AM

Stefanicov [1,633]

Poker at: none

Game: none

i lost 300 in first 6 mnths but in last yr have turned tht into few grand profit it will turn around

#5

March 28th, 2007, 1:20 AM

medeiros13 [490]

Online Poker at: Betonline

Game: HE/PLO

I lost $200 dollars on my first two deposits. The reason for this was simple, I wasn't a good player and wasn't prepared to play improved competition. Eventually from joining communities like CC and reading some books, my game improved and I was able to recoup that initial 200 bucks and have made steady BR progress since.

#6

March 28th, 2007, 3:03 AM

premierplayer [505]

Poker at: pokerstars

Game: NLHE Headsup

Thanks for the replies guys. It is giving me confidence to know that I am not the only one who has experienced early losses. I know that I have the ability to overcome this. I will keep studying the game.

#7

March 28th, 2007, 4:27 AM

Virv [57]

Online Poker at: PokerStars

Game: Hold'em

re: Poker & How much did you lose before you started to gain?

I'm down $3500 if that makes you feel any better.

#8

March 28th, 2007, 4:58 AM

kcanuck [12,210]

Lost about $300 playing ring games (I was a huge donk...lol). Once I discovered sit n goes things turned around quickly.

#9

March 28th, 2007, 5:16 AM

premierplayer [505]

Online Poker at: pokerstars

Game: NLHE Headsup

Originally Posted by kcanuck

Lost about $300 playing ring games (I was a huge donk...lol). Once I discovered sit n goes things turned around quickly.

What did SitNgoes have that made you profitable? What types did you play? I found myself liking ring games better..

#10

March 28th, 2007, 5:25 AM

ArmadilloTrim [35]

Poker at: Poker Stars

Game: holdem,omaha

haha, well I started playing when I was 15, with a fake id at a local casino. I lost 6000 before I figured out how to play. But, slowly, it turns around if you play well and learn properly. Since then Ive made over 80k playing poker, so yes it does turn around. If your dedicated ( i would study poker 8 hours of the day, and play eight, then sleep the other eight) hahah.

#11

March 28th, 2007, 5:26 AM

ArmadilloTrim [35]

Online Poker at: Poker Stars

Game: holdem,omaha

if your wonderin why i had 6grand when i was 15, I just worked for a year part time thru 14 to 15, with the intention of begining to play poker

#12

March 28th, 2007, 5:31 AM

Kennyseven [623]

Poker at: poker stars

Game: holdem

I started at Pokerstars and lost like 700 playing sit and go's. A friend of mine suggested that I concentrate on playing large tournies because he saw me play a couple and I ran pretty deep in them. Well, I started playing the freeroll circuit and I ended up winning 2 grand at the gaming clup[now poker time]. I made a 50 dollar dep. so I could withdraw my money and took that money to full tilt. At first, all I did was play sit and go's and lost 600. I thought to myself...what the hell am I doing? So I started to play the big tourneys, and I won 7000 and have been +roi ever since. But I still like playing the sit and go's...duh. Anyway, I think big tourneys are great for newbies because you can get alot of experience without losing a lot. GL.

#13

March 28th, 2007, 5:33 AM

Virv [57]

Online Poker at: PokerStars

Game: Hold'em

ArmadilloTrim: You're my new hero. Did you make all your winnings from live games? Nothing online? What stakes did you play?

#14

March 28th, 2007, 5:33 AM

premierplayer [505]

Poker at: pokerstars

Game: NLHE Headsup

re: Poker & How much did you lose before you started to gain?

Originally Posted by ArmadilloTrim

haha, well I started playing when I was 15, with a fake id at a local casino. I lost 6000 before I figured out how to play. But, slowly, it turns around if you play well and learn properly. Since then Ive made over 80k playing poker, so yes it does turn around. If your dedicated ( i would study poker 8 hours of the day, and play eight, then sleep the other eight) hahah.

Except most people work or have school and play poker part time. ha.

#15

March 28th, 2007, 11:59 AM

kcanuck [12,210]

see thread

Originally Posted by premierplayer

What did SitNgoes have that made you profitable? What types did you play? I found myself liking ring games better..

Started a thread today http://www.cardschat.com/f13/finding-right-format-81702/ Pretty much says it all for me. I play $5, $10 and the occasional $20, 9 player.

#16

March 28th, 2007, 12:12 PM

Devilpoker78 [292]

Poker at: Fulltilt

Game: Holdem

I started off in paradise poker 4 years ago. Lost my entire bankroll (about USD100). Did better with my second deposit tho, got it up to USD1,200 then blew it all on a bad day while on a terrible tilt. Learnt a huge lesson and have since learnt to control my temper and composure. Anyway Im proud to say that I havent lost my entire bankroll ever since that second time and im a profitable and better player now (I hope). Most people start out as losers i suppose, same with anything else in life.

#17

March 29th, 2007, 4:03 AM

premierplayer [505]

Online Poker at: pokerstars

Game: NLHE Headsup

Keep the stories comin!

#18

March 29th, 2007, 4:32 AM

JimboJim [2,154]

Poker at: PokerStars

Game: hold-em

I started with a $20 deposit and started winning. That was just luck because now that I look back I was a horrible player. Spent my entire bankroll drunk in one night. Played around a little with freeroll winnings and then deposited $50 on Stars. Lost a couple Stakes and gifts so I would say i'm down $150-$200 max. When I was on my initial winning streak I was playing $20 buy-ins but now I play 5c/10c max.

#19

March 30th, 2007, 6:22 PM

4Aces [1,903]

Online Poker at: Jokerstars

Game: NLHE & PLO

Ive built up $70 on poker.com without making a deposit!

#20

March 31st, 2007, 12:45 AM

quads [414]

Poker at: poker stars

Game: nl holdem

I hit a big tourney online for over 120k. Was down close to 35k over a three and a half year period before I struck some gold. And had plenty of strikes from 1k to 5k, along with a couple over 15k playing tourneys, and was still down 35k before I hit. Most of all my loses came from cash games. The past year I played nothing but tournaments online. Slowed down allot online since this new law was passed in the U.S.. The constant flow of big tourneys lost when PP pulled out, and not comfortable with the banking options us U.S. players are now forced to deal with, I slowed the pace down greatly. Still play satellites during the week trying to get into the bigger weekend tourneys for cheap. Only deposit what I need and should I get lucky and strike some more gold, would be concerned about cashing out. But of course that would be a good problem to have. Besides the odds of me giving it all back now at this pace should be hard. Maybe the condition online poker is presently in for U.S. players will turn out to be a blessing for me. But if you really want to win something you could sink your teeth into playing online, most of us will need a bankroll that can give us a shot.

#21

March 31st, 2007, 5:39 AM

MPW73088 [12]

Online Poker at: Full Tilt

Game: Holdem/Omaha

re: Poker & How much did you lose before you started to gain?

I never lost.

#22

May 6th, 2007, 4:35 PM

premierplayer [505]

Poker at: pokerstars

Game: NLHE Headsup

bumpity bump..

So far I have lost too much. I don't want to quit but really sometimes I just get some bad beats because I set myself up in bad situations.

#23

May 6th, 2007, 4:46 PM

joosebuck [4,199]

Online Poker at: 911POKER.COM

Game: strip poker

probably in the neighborhood of $300-$400 before i started really learning. i'm not exactly someone who learns by reading/listening, i learn best through firsthand experience. once i got a few hundred thousand hands under my belt i really turned my game around.

#24

May 6th, 2007, 4:54 PM

vanquish [12,003]

Originally Posted by ArmadilloTrim

haha, well I started playing when I was 15, with a fake id at a local casino. I lost 6000 before I figured out how to play. But, slowly, it turns around if you play well and learn properly. Since then Ive made over 80k playing poker, so yes it does turn around. If your dedicated ( i would study poker 8 hours of the day, and play eight, then sleep the other eight) hahah.

Stay in school?

#25

May 6th, 2007, 4:54 PM

crancko [895]

Online Poker at: Pokerstars

Game: any

Started out (this time around) loosing 200$ and deciding i wasnt good enough. Went the freeroll way. For practise and bankroll purposes. Built up a few small BR's on different sites and have generally lost them again to ring games.

Seems i have been getting somewhat better at MTT's though, i'm regularly placed and have read every scrap of gold CC has to offer in the Articles and Guide section, which has helped enourmously (in most parts).

So ill deposit a few bob at stars next week and earmark them for MTT's. No more ring games for me till i figure out what the hell is going on. (But ill also be looking more into live MTT's. They are quite fun).

#26

May 6th, 2007, 6:41 PM

Effexor [1,774]

Poker at: FTP. Stars

Game: Ice Cream

I played with play chips for about a year before I deposited any real money. One thing I did notice was that the competition at the higher stakes SNG's for play chips was very similar to low stakes real money sng's.

Since my initial deposit, I've made money at both sng's and mtt's, but cash games I'm just about dead even. In reality, it's 2 final tables in big mtt's that have given me most of my profits.

#27

May 6th, 2007, 7:23 PM

MrDaMan [529]

Online Poker at: Poker Stars

Game: holdem

Do you keep a journal? I've been playing seriously for about 4 years and being honest I have to admit to being just over 10 grand down for the whole of the 4 years.

I have won over 14K in tournament play which for the most part is re-invested back into tournaments and ring games. If I only played tournaments and didn't play cash games I would be ahead over all.

So now I play more tournaments and very little cash games. This year I've won over 3000 with only 1000 invested. I know sooner or later I'm going to hit a big one like Quads has and my poker career will get into the positive column.

This year 70 cashes, and 12 final tables with five 1st place wins.

I'm on the negative side at the moment but I have no doubt that sooner or later I'll be on the positive side.

#28

May 6th, 2007, 7:33 PM

Minnted [2]

Poker at: FT, Ptbl,Bdg

Game: trny NL Hldm

re: Poker & How much did you lose before you started to gain?

I was down about $400 in my first 18 months of internet play, but that was largely due to bad bankroll management. I won a $20 MTT with 180 players pretty early that had me thinking I could do it all the time at a $20 to $50 level. I couldn't/didn't. Starting about 8 months ago I woke up and started using proper BR managment. After putting in some smallish deposits ($30 to $50) I'm now a "slow profit" player (making profit at $1 to $5 SNG or the MTT SNGs on FT, .05/.10 PL games, .50/1 limit, etc.) - nothing to retire on, but I prefer to see my balances going up over down. I'll move up as my bankroll allows.

#29

May 6th, 2007, 9:21 PM

Cheesus666 [4]

Online Poker at: Bodog Poker

Lost about 2,000 first day playing ring games online on partypoker drunk. I had played a bunch of homegames before so I wasn't new to poker, just didn't have a feel for internet play. Gained it all back and then some later that month. Started going to the casino couple times a week. Up and down didn't really win or lose anything. Now I live a lot further fron the casino so I just play home games once or twice a week and play in some freerolls online.

#30

May 7th, 2007, 12:38 AM

singate [130]

Game: NL Holdem

Even though I knew how to play I still wasn't confident of my skills with real money so I only used play chips for about a year. I saw a lot of people throwing around chips, making crazy plays simply because there was no threat of losing actual money. My approach was to treat it like it was for real so that I wouldn't get into bad habits once I decided to deposit for real. My initial deposit was $50, which I believe was the minimum at Empire. I cut my teeth playing $.50/1 ring games pretty much breaking even. Just for a change I decided to try SNG's and I was hooked. Gradually worked my way up from $6 to the $22 buy ins, though I preferred the middle ground at $11. I worked my bankroll up to over $300, then went on a 3 month losing streak which had me down to about $30. I decided once that was gone I would be done with online poker. Suddenly things turned around, I was placing in the money in almost every SNG I entered, topping out around $425. Went back on another losing streak right before us Americans got banned then cashed out for $318. Not bad for a $50 investment and I gained a ton of experience.

#31

May 7th, 2007, 12:41 AM

Kenzie 96 [11,557]

Online Poker at: pokerstars

Game: holdem

Originally Posted by kcanuck

Started a thread today http://www.cardschat.com/f13/finding-right-format-81702/ Pretty much says it all for me. I play $5, $10 and the occasional $20, 9 player.

Probably lost $100/150 before the information & experience I was getting at this forum started kicking in.

SNG's all you have at risk is your buy in. $1,2,5, whatever.
Ring game you get up several $ suffer a bad beat & your bankroll is only a click away. Tilt City here I come.

#32

May 7th, 2007, 12:58 AM

gamedemon [192]

Poker at: PokerStars

I'd say I lost the first $200 - $250 I deposited at PokerStars last year over a 3 month period playing $6.50 and $15 turbo SitnGos... I'd place in a few, but over time loose it all.

I then took some time and read a couple of books and started to learn from my errors... I also started playing in some tourneys and very low-stake ring games....

Since I deposited another $100 last summer, I have never had to deposit again

#33

May 7th, 2007, 7:43 AM

NineLions [4,959]

Online Poker at: PS, FT

I love these starting bankroll threads, probably 'cause I'm still starting out. It's comforting to read the fits and starts that most people go through.

premierplayer, it may just take time and patience. Find a game and level that works best for you, and just stick with it for a while. Take the time to review your hands afterwards, and post any questionable ones in the analysis section.

My bankroll is 4-5 months old. Starting from freeroll winnings on one site, making a $50 deposit on another. Up and down, and almost empty at more than one point on both sites. Right now it's at a bit of a dead spot, but I've built up a bit of a cushion in both places so I'm just trying to find what leaks I can find to help move it forward.

#34

May 7th, 2007, 8:32 AM

joosebuck [4,199]

Poker at: 911POKER.COM

Game: strip poker

misery loves company

#35

May 7th, 2007, 2:19 PM

TurnipHead [158]

Online Poker at: Poker Heaven

Game: holdem

re: Poker & How much did you lose before you started to gain?

Dec 2005 - May 2006: Stupidly just played tournaments and the odd cash game at Party Poker with the odd $100 deposit here and $50 deposit there. DOWN APPROX $500. (This is a very stupid and wrong way to try to win money.)

BIG RETHINK, THEN:

Aug 2006 - Present: Joined many sites and started grinding Limit Poker tables starting at micro limits; including the $0.01/$0.02 and $0.02/$0.04 tables. (Learnt LOADS from playing these tables for weeks on end and keeping track of results.)

Moved up through the limits at the rate of one level every month or so to the $0.50 / $1 Limit tables. Noticed a BIG jump in quality of player when playing $1/$2 Limit poker so:

Left many sites after working off bonuses (yes small amount of bonus whoring was involved). Now mainly play at 4 sites at the NL tables with $25 to $50 buy ins. Really learnt a lot by grinding away at those Limit tables though. Now, since August 2006, currently UP APPROX$700!!

Which means I am up a whopping $200 in my online poker career spanning about 18 months!

Nevertheless, in those 18 months of intense poker playing I've learnt a lot and been through all the usual mistakes a typical "starting out" player goes through. Most notably; (1) being $300 up at Pacific Poker and then wiping out the whole lot in about 3 days by prematurely going up in the limits. And (2) Tilting my entire bankroll away at Poker Stars after taking a shot at a $5 /$10 Limit table.

I now consider myself to be an average player with, still, plenty to learn.